Sweet Potato Side or Dip

Delighted to have a guest post from the truly one-of-a-kind, Charlotte:

From Char:

The way I cook? It’s about process. A little of this, a little of
that. Give it a taste. Until it’s good.

I don’t presume to know the exact combination of ingredients that will
result in the best possible outcome. People like different things.

I realize that you can’t do that with everything. But here’s a dip
that I just made using that methodology. It’s good and you should try
it.

Ingredients:

·        2 fully-cooked room temperature yams or sweet potatoes. Cook
them in the microwave or via boiling water. Google how long — I don’t
know off the top of my head — but basically they should be soft when
forks are stuck in them

·        Tablespoon or two of freshly grated ginger

·        Teaspoon or two of cumin. I think ground would be better than
whole but I only had the latter

·        Couple tablespoons of chicken stock. I had some homemade
lying around made from Tessa’s recipe

·        Salt and pepper

·        Tablespoon or two of olive oil

Instructions

·        Set your baseline. Whirl the sweet potatoes + olive oil +
salt and pepper. Then add your chicken stock in amount depending on
what kind of consistency you want (see below).

·        Now experiment. Add small increments of the remaining
ingredients. Taste good? Stop.

Recipe Variations:

·        Don’t like spice? Switch out the ginger and cumin for blue
cheese, lemon, and chives. Or goat cheese.

·        Don’t make it a dip. Make it mashed potatoes instead by
hitting the pulse button a few times on the food processor.

·        Fry dollops of it in a pan with maybe some breadcrumbs mixed
in for a fritter.

·        Stuff it inside protein: sole filets or chicken. Then bake
it.  If you’re doing fish though I would think about decreasing the
cumin and ginger so as not to overwhelm.

Pairings:

·        Obviously pita and veggies

·        Spread it on your sandwich instead of mustard or mayo

·        Eating it with any kind of red meat would be killer. Roll it
in prosciutto/speck/bresaola for an appetizer or just plop some
beside a roast. Or mush it on top of a burger.